Category: Policy

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has withdrawn a rule that would have banned menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars, putting a formal end to a policy that had been indefinitely delayed under the Biden administration. 

https://www.publichealthlawcenter.org/commentary/250121/1/21/25-fdas-new-announcements-nicotine-reduction-zyn-products The likely result of the FDA’s release of the rule before the Trump administration begins is to protect the rule from being discarded and to allow the agency to begin collecting comments from the public but not pursue any action on the rule. The agency appears to anticipate this by having an extended comment…

E-cigarette manufacturer R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. sought to challenge a marketing authorization denial for its new vape flavors in the Fifth Circuit. The North Carolina-based company would normally file before the Fourth Circuit or the D.C. Circuit, but Reynolds tied itself to a local retailer to put its lawsuit in front of a friendlier audience. 

https://rollcall.com/2025/01/16/fda-authorizes-first-nicotine-pouches/ The 20 pouch types include two nicotine strengths of 3 and 6 milligrams and 10 flavors. Separate FDA rulemaking this week proposed a nicotine limit for certain tobacco products, such as cigarettes, of 0.7 milligrams per gram of tobacco. Those limits would not apply to these products.

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-proposes-significant-step-toward-reducing-nicotine-minimally-or-nonaddictive-level-cigarettes FDA proposed rule is open for comment. The FDA proposal is to cap nicotine at 0.7 mg per gram of tobacco. More information below. https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2025-00397/tobacco-product-standard-for-nicotine-yield-of-cigarettes-and-certain-other-combusted-tobacco

The new regulations will be waiting for the Trump Administration to implement. FDA Commissioner Gottlieb first proposed the idea in 2018 under the Trump White House so this could be a bipartisan effort in tobacco control

San Francisco is the only city in the Bay Area where smoking on a bar patio remains. 2025 should be the year to close that loophole, and perhaps result in statewide legislation